Need info on floor joists

[fyreseer]

I have a 1997 Cavalier. I have no idea what the 'model' is, or anything else. The insurance paperwork has only the make, serial, and dimensions. It's a 16x80, single (obviously?) wide. The walls (interior and exterior) are 2x4s set at 16"OC. It has just recently been releveled, 13 years after being set on site. It's an unusual floor plan, having two full master suites - one on each end.

We are looking to put in an upright freezer, and I was concerned about the concentrated weight causing problems. The freezer attached to the fridge just is NOT big enough for what we need, and we don't have a way to put one outside (no garage or shed). After doing a bit of reading, I know that we need the floor joist distances and information to calculate load safety. I have NO desire to overload the floor in any way! We do have some insanely heavy bedroom furniture, but since it is all flat-bottom, it spreads the load out more than a freezer would. Our front-loader still vibrates the house a bit, but not like it did when it was out-of-level. The fridge and utility are on opposite sides of the same wall, and we were considering the possibility that the floor may have been reinforced *just* there?

It would be useful also, to know whether the joists run length- or cross-wise, to determine which way the freezer should be set (although my partner insists that it probably won't matter since the freezer we're looking at has a 28x28" footprint).

I do know that at least some of the subflooring and the roofing is OSB of some sort - I can see it under the bathtubs and the water heater when I remove the doors. It warped a little under the tub when we had a leak, but not enough that it does more than squeak when stepped on right next to the edge of the tub. We had had a water heater leak, as well, and the installer tested it there before putting in the new heater (I asked), and said it would be fine. I don't know if it is likely to be the same over the entire MFH? If so, then that would be what is in the kitchen as well, where we intend to put the freezer (up next to both an exterior and interior wall). Future project involves replacing the carpeting in the bathroom with something - probably laminate, as I'm not thrilled about vinyl flooring, and stone tiles would be way too heavy according to what I've read.

It seems that the most common size of floor joists in MFH is 2x6", and I figured we would calculate on that. However, is there any way to find out how far they are spaced apart (the walls are easy - the floors don't have the same clues though, because of the carpet)? And possibly also to find out which way the joists run? I have been looking for some sort of diagram or information all day, but haven't found anything beyond that, including through a search here.

I wish we got more information when we bought the place, but I think it was probably a repo, and we didn't know anything about what we were doing. LOL. We got very fortunate, and have had very, very few issues over the 13 years we've had the home. I also wish there was some kind of owner's checklist, of things to be done in each season/year to maintain things, to spot problems before they escalate.

Thanks for reading, and sorry about all the possibly-irrelevant information!

[David Oxhandler]

The floor joist are almost certainly 2x6. The floor system in your home should have no problem supporting a stand up freezer, regardless of which way the joist run. My younger son had a heavy gun safe, about the size you mentioned, that he put into one of the closets in his 1984 single-wide, with out indecent, other than it took five men to get it in and four years later get it out, when he moved.

If your concerned go under the home, locate the joist that will be under the freezer area. Place a section of plywood about double the size of the freezer on the floor. Then, add piers below the plywood area. That way you spread out the weight on an area with beefed up support.

[fyreseer]

Thank you, David! I will go look now.